Tuesday, 14 June 2016

I finally corrected the "bug" that was bugging me...LOL!! It's was only a small coding error that i forgot to add (DOH!), but now i can begin to upgrade all the rest of the games.

But before doing that, here is the latest "OdySim Tennis" (or in the menu on the right side) version which is in sync with the latest LÖVE version (0.10.1). And i added a new feature thanks to Brian (aka CN10) which you can now decrease or increase the AI level (with buttons "9" and "0") so this way you can "beat" the AI, because before this version the AI was unbeatable. And also, the "F9" button now works (you can switch OFF or ON the overlay).

So download this new version and send me (see the read-me text for my e-mail address) or leave a comment if there is any bug(s) or error(s) or to say what you think of it.

Pretty cool banner but for $89.00 US...nope! Not for me. If at least it had a picture of the game console, now maybe i would have bid on it.This would make a great banner to add to the National Videogame Museum (in Frisco, Texas) =)

Thank
you so much for all the work you put into this! I'm really looking
forward to the updated Haunted House. Question: can the AI in the new
Tennis game be beaten? The opponent paddle seems to move 1:1 with the
english I throw at it, and I haven't got on the scoreboard yet. (If
there's a winning strategy, I'd really like to hear it). Anyway, it is
all awesome!

My reply:

Hi again CN10!

First, thanks very much for the "pat in the back" , it's always appreciated! =)

Be patient for the updated Haunted House as it's coming soon and for your question about beating the AI, well...you can't! It's not been coded to be able to beat it as i just programmed the AI to follow the vertical ball trace so if the ball move up and down, the AI follows instantly. So don't try to beat it, you simply can't (for now anyway).

After reading your comment, i coded a "Level Adjustment" for the AI in the Tennis game with the new Love version (0.10.1) and the "AI Level" works great! You can variate between 300 and 500 for the speed reaction as Player 1 speed is naturally set for 500 so if you put it at 300, the AI moves less faster and at 500, it moves as fast as the ball (unbeatable).

The new buttons for the AI Level are: "9" to decrease the AI Speed and "0" in increase it's speed and to know which speeds it goes, just press "F3" and the speed will be indicated in the upper-right corner of the screen (see picture below).

And just press again "F3" to remove the AI speed indicator.

For about the "Canvas" problem with Love 0.8.0, it was indeed the old version of Love that was the problem as it is the first version for the canvas to be used. And with Love version 0.10.1, all shades (white/grey/black) are now working properly. The above screenshot is less darker than the 0.8.0 version if you make the difference.

As for anyone who will ask for displaying the ball speed, my answer is "no" as you can see the ball speed increasing or decreasing at the screen (by pressing "1" and "2") so no need to display the ball speed, but for the AI speed, that i had to since this feature isn't implied in the original Odyssey.

I have only a small "bug" to correct before upgrading all the games to Love 0.10.1 as it "boots" to fullscreen mode without a problem and even when changing resolutions works but trying to return to "window" mode is where i have a bug, it does display in a window but the game isn't resized. So once
this bug fixed, all 12 original games (of the 1TL200) will be upgraded and released afterwards with also all 4 Rifle Gun games.

But why specify the 1TL200 ? Because of the upcoming post about the unreleased YD7001 model. But before i end this post, here's a teaser: Did you know that a picture of the unreleased YD7001 model is available on the internet for at least the past 16 years ? YES! It's true! I'm not bullshiting any of you and i swear it on my kids heads!

Oh and i will also talk about an unknown "clone" that almost nobody knows about it. Even M.Baer didn't know about that specific clone. But that will be another story for another time. ;)

Stay "blogged" for the next post, folks! =)

OUPS! Almost forgot! I've made today an updated version of the Volleyball overlay which i think is more appealing. I'll let you judge for yourself:

Saturday, 11 June 2016

8 games are finished, meaning the game, overlay and accessories (if any) are coded each in a self-executable. The games are: Analogic, Cat and Mouse, Hockey, Simon Says, Ski, Submarine, Table Tennis and Tennis.

Only 4 are left to finished, which are:

* Football (this one has many accessories...argh!)
* Haunted House (only missing the cards)
* Roulette (all accessories need to be coded)
* States (Map is done, now missing the 50 cards)

As some of you already knows, i code the games in LUA with the help of the LOVE engine, but i'm still using LOVE version 0.8.0 and i ran into a new problem: the canvas...well sort of a problem. The problem with the canvas (this is what gives any resolution) is any shades between white and black (it includes also grey BTW) is when i try to make a shade with transparency, it does not quite work. Let me explain...

If i take either white, grey or black (shades), transparency does work but any spots (player, ball or wall) is painting the canvas...yes painting and i tried so many things and none seems to work so instead of using any shades for transparency, i am now using a different color...say blue sky instead of grey for the overlay of States. This way any spots doesn't "paint" the canvas but the only problem left is that the overlay isn't colored exactly as the original overlay.

But that may be only a version problem of the engine as i'm still using an old version. I will try to test out with the last version released of LOVE (version 0.10.1) to see if i'm getting the same results or not. If the canvas gives better results with the latest version, the original 12 games will have to be released a few weeks later to give me the time to adapt the codes between versions.

Monday, 6 June 2016

Some of you may know "Rev.Rob" aka Robert Allen Vinciguerra. He made some Odyssey homebrews as "Odball", "Mentis Cohorts" and "Red vs. Blue" and he recently re-released Oddball as "Odball LE" (Limited Edition) on Ebay with Red vs Blue as a game bonus.

I did wrote that i may/would make his homebrews freely available for the OdySim but i wanted to get his permission and write to him one last time, that was on March 15, 2016 on Ebay with his ID account "Rev.Zodac" and here's the original message that i have sent him:

Hi M.Vinciguerra,

I am writing to you by Ebay because i've tried by AtariAge and 2 other sites and
never had a reply back. I am Sly DC from the odysim blogspot. This is my last try
to contact you as i still want to ask you permission to simulate all your Magnavox
Odyssey homebrews. So you can either reply thru Ebay or you can post a message on
my OdySim blog. I'll await your response, thanks very much. ;)

--- Sly DC ---

As today (June 06, 2016), i still haven't received an answer. And the worst thing is that he knows that i want to contact him and ask permission as he's reading this blog for quite a time. He also has an account on Reddit under "ZadocPaet" and on Imgur as "zadoc". Took me about 2 minutes to find his residential address (address withheld) in Glendale, Arizona.

So since it's been almost two months, i will do his homebrews with or without his permission as he's avoiding any messages or reply. This was my "2 cents" on this matter...

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Now for news about the OdySim. The last releases were individual games (Cat and Mouse + Simon Says) and as it is going with coding and all, i will continue to release all the games individually as my last attempt to code the "all-in-1" simulator (the menu specifically) is giving me errors that i tried to correct but still getting errors so...screw the "all-in-1" for now.

In the following days/weeks i will released all 12 original games that were packed-in with the Odyssey ITL200 as individual games. This way it is easier for me to correct or update a specific game as if someone wants to play a specific game then just need to click on the executable file.

I may also released in the meantime all four Rifle games since those only needs a small code update. So here's how i plan the releases:

After that...errr...i do have other projects concerning the Odyssey but in the meantime, i'll keep those projects "under rap" and concentrate on this project as well as some LoveM.E.S.S. and LoveM.E.G.S projects. =)

So what about the model "YD7001" i last wrote about ?? That's coming very soon! ;)